Anyone else miss the old Louis?
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Louis C.K.
rannixx — 9 years ago(May 28, 2016 01:41 AM)
'New Louis' is fine, but I kind of miss the old, straightforwardly absurdist Louis. The 'Why?' deconstructionist daughter bit, the beep Ass Pet beep and even his musings on his short-lived podcastesque-vlog thing (I remember his elaborating on something to the effect of..'40,000 people downloaded my podcast. I got 336 views, but I got 40,000. How great is that? (Ah found it:
). I believe that's the way you should look at life.'; very dry, niche stuffbut brilliant. He was funneling some kind of pure ridiculousness from an otherworldly plane. He was incredible then, and I could see where snobs would have written off some of his beep as base, low-browbut it was all very consciously so, and with much self-awareness; craftily low-brow. It was original, cathartic, healing humor in the same vein as Maron in later, but pre-fame days. It's almost unimaginable that such an esoteric style really, really resonated with an exponentially growing audience that exceeded cult status. Sure, maybe there wasn't the bleak depth of 'Louie', and the dark episodes were intimate on a purely schadenfreude if not embarrassing level, but the sentiment-less Louis resonated more with me..and he still veered into that territory on the show from time to time. I guess maybe overall I prefer him in the context of stand-up and lighter interviews. It can be hellish to be a comedian, with its suffocating need to segment, deconstruct, and filter things through layers of irony, finding the right room temperature, etc. in addition to wanting to be original and still have your wits about you on complex moral issues, so I can understand the need for him to cut loose with all of his underlying neuroses in the outlet of his darker, more ambiguous creative projects. Maybe pressures just got to the point of needing a release valve in addition to..y'know, shaking up the traditional TV formula. Unless you're..say, a Carlos Mencia, there's a great deal of depression attached with being a 'good' comedian.
I like the show Louie, but there's no doubt it has moments of pretension, self-indulgence where if one were to question it they could be written off as an uncultured yob. Which is greatly strange because Louis slags off pretentious films quite a bit (See his thoughts on American Beauty, which are more than likely his sincere feelings..and there may be a measure of truth to his opinion, sure)..but it's clear he was influenced heavily by a lot of the artsier, avant-garde, expressionist or Cinma vrit -type filmmakers that could arguably be written off as pretentious in their own right. Anyway, I could still enjoy later seasons of Louie because I was similarly, and still am, in a dark and strange place. Adding David Lynch to the show on one episode was icing on the cake.
Some of his early shorts were really good though. Absurdist homages to said artsy style films in a mocking fashion. What I love about Louis is that he's always original. Obsessively so. It's a mentality that I deeply appreciate and is what I loved about it. Not only just original concepts, but meaningful layers woven into it all. Original to the point where he just became his own sovereign entity. A completely self-possessed style that stubbornly and persistently became its own thing. I'm glad it mostly paid off for Louis, and mostly those who keep integrity fall into the cynicism of 'well, what's integrity mean anymore? beep it.' and start becoming a brand. I feel like I'm gushing unnecessarily here, but the guy's a one-man army of principle. Artistic principle is usually what ends up making others buss tables, but he genuinely made it a staple throughout his entire career and at the apex of his success. Sometimes his ilk rise to the top, sometimes they become completely lost to time, burn out, cynical.
Anyway, guess he found what's more lucrative for him. Louie encapsulated some of the essence of Louis CK but appealed on a broader, more critically palatable level since most of the ivory tower critics aren't exactly on the up and up on what underlay good, desperation-fraught comedy;that was the next logical step forward I suppose. Although, I wouldn't say 'Horace and Pete' was lucrative. Artistically fulfilling to him though, at least. I'm sure the absurdist Louis felt like he wasn't putting enough of his actual self out there (though I'd argue that. He was never like the cold, virtually inhuman Seinfeld.), so he did and I think he took it overboard. Matter of taste though I guess:..isn't it always? I still love Larry David and his lack of any sentiment dealing with the rotting horror of this dark, hostile world in an upbeat..almost cartoonishly whimsical fashion. Similar to Always Sunny. Wilfred, to a lesser extent; it was similarly dark, upbeat, surreal. -
jeanpirise — 9 years ago(July 02, 2016 02:19 AM)
He's still that same guy but the pot smoking has made him more dull and unaware. Check out live in Portland on youtube, it's a few shows before Oh My God, same material, but much better crafted, better details, more coherent, it was great !! I hope he quit and he's clever again
Oh what a day. What a lovely day!